Sir, – The Cabinet decision to further sanction speeding motorists is another fig-leaf to hide mistaken idea that speeding alone causes accidents and death on our roads.
According to the Road Safety Authority’s own data, only 6 per cent of fatal accidents had speeding as the sole contributory factor in their study. Furthermore, there is no evidence to suggest that motorists in such accidents were in excess of the speed limit, merely that their speed was excessive for the road and conditions.
In those fatal collisions reported in the RSA data, one third of drivers had no insurance, and one third had no licence. Where is the legislation to deal with these issues more harshly? Road infrastructure – signage, road markings, pedestrian structures and so on – remains woefully underdeveloped. Where is the budget allocation to improve these elements?
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the implementation of the fixed penalty notice system has been amateurish. Found unconstitutional in key measures by the High Court recently, to say nothing for the penalty points scandal in the Garda Síochána, the current system is simply not fit for purpose. We have the wrong objectives, badly implemented.
Time to go back to the drawing board, and not simply increase the fines. – Yours, etc,
ANTHONY BEHAN,
Co Cork.